48
by ellie-hiddlebatch
Summary: Sherrinford Holmes, retired assassin, has one goal: to kill James Moriarty. Problems? Well, he has to reunite with his brothers after nearly 15 years of departure. Also? he only has 48 hours. Read and review please :)
1. 48

"Good day, Mister Holmes," the woman behind the desk said.

"Hello," Holmes responded. "The woman who got me, she said you had a mission for me."

"And so I do," said the woman, passing a file folder Holmes' way.

"I do hope you know that I'm retired. I finished doing this sort of thing a long time ago, after the scandal with-"

"I think you'll want to," the woman interrupted. "This is a profile of the most dangerous man in the world. He's killed thousands of people. Your task is to-"

"-to kill him?" Holmes finished. "That's quite a generic task."

"He's in London," she said, standing up, her curly blond hair cascading down her back. "And his name is James Moriarty. He's got a criminal ring set up, but we have other people onto them- people in the British government. But we need you to kill him… to kill Moriarty."

"It's in London?" Holmes asked, glancing through the profiles. "Will I be seeing _them_?"

"Probably," the woman said. "It's hard to walk around London these days without seeing Sherlock Holmes."

"That's a fair point." He paused. "I'm not sure I want to take this job."

"I'm not sure you have a choice," she said.

He held the file folder with hesitation. "How long do I have?"

"Forty-eight hours. The cab is waiting outside."

"Well then." Holmes stood up and was stopped as he stepped through the door.

"Good luck, Sherrinford Holmes."


	2. 47

He stepped out of the cab carefully, his shiny black shoes avoiding a rather large puddle. So this was the place he was instructed to go to. A small, modest flat with an off-center knocker. He opened the door and walked upstairs to be greeted by a familiar, dark-haired man sitting at a table. When the man noticed him, his eyes widened.

"Sh-_Sherrinford?_"

"Hello, brother mine."

"What are- what the- Why are you here?"

"I'm here from the agency, they told me to come here. Said that the inhibitor of the flat was an expert in what I'm trying to do." Sherrinford took a step forward, his slender body casting a long shadow across the room.

"And that is…"

"Kill James Moriarty."

The man's mouth gaped open in surprise. "I don't think anyone understands the difficulty of killing Moriarty. He's faked his death, and it passed by us all. Passed by _me_. He's more dangerous than all of England's armed forces, and he's even more powerful than-"

"Than me?" said a third man standing behind Sherrinford. "Sherrinford, it's customary to knock before entering someone's home."

"And it's quite hypocritical to reprimand me for it, Mycroft."

Mycroft stepped out from behind Sherrinford and sighed. "I thought that hypocritical lectures were the purpose of having siblings," he said.

"Not precisely, little brother," Sherrinford smirked. "Anyways, Sherlock- will you help me?"

Sherlock sighed. "I guess. Only because I don't have any more cases."

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air from below, followed by a gunshot. While Sherrinford looked confused, Sherlock looked quite grim.

"Mrs. Hudson."


	3. 46

"MRS. HUDSON!" Sherlock yelled, running down a flight of stairs that led to Mrs. Hudson's body, which laid limp in the hallway. The open door caught Sherrinford's eye as Sherlock kneeled down to examine her wounds. They were fatal. Suddenly, the attention turned to the wall opposite Mrs. Hudson. A note was spread across the wall in blood.

"I O U?" Sherrinford asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

" fall..." Sherlock muttered.

"A fall? Is this about..."

"Yes." Mycroft frowned. "So he really is back."

"Of course he's back. That's why I'm here to kill him."

"Sherrinford, we sent out people to murder his entire network, I doubt he is equally powerful as he was before."

"He's more." Sherlock stands up. "More than he was before. He's on his own, he's more likely to take deep plunges, he's more… deadly."

"Has anyone called 999 yet?" Sherrinford asked, getting out his phone.

"Be my guest," Mycroft said, smiling in a sarcastic manner.

"Sherlock?"

Sherrinford looked to the side.

"In here, John," Sherlock said loudly.

"999, what's your emergency?" Sherrinford explained his situation while John conversed about the new, mysterious man.

"Who is he?"

"My brother."

"You have another brother?"

"Yeah. We thought he died."

"And you never _mentioned it?_"

"No." Sherlock frowned. "Why would I?"

Sherrinford hung up the phone. As the ambulance came roaring down Baker Street, the short man introduced himself.

"John Watson," John said, "Sherlock's friend. You're-"

"Sherrinford." He shook John's hand.

"Sherrinford, if you want my help, you take John's help, too."

"Pleasure to work with you, Doctor Watson."


	4. 45

**"****Where are we going, exactly?" John asked in the back of Sherrinford's cab. **

**"****This file said he's got a hole up in Regal Valley. It's a top secret government facility that got infiltrated a while ago by a bunch of stoners. It's been abandoned since, but apparently he's there," Sherrinford said from the front seat. **

**"****And how long is the car ride going to be?"**

**"****Two hours, probably."**

**Sherlock looked annoyed. "Two hours crammed into the backseat of some rubbish cab your boss booked? He's not that smart. This is ridiculous."**

**"****_She _****is very intelligent, brother mine. Spend some quality time with Mycroft. God knows you two need it," Sherrinford smirked. **

**"****I call shotgun on the way back," John said, attempting to make a joke.  
****"****If we make it back." The five sat in silence as they rode to Regal Valley. Finally, the cabbie said something. **

**"****You four on the manhunt, eh?"**

**"****Yep," Sherlock said, popping the 'p' like he always did. **

**"****Shame, I thought you lot were intelligent." A hint of an irish accent became relevant in his voice. **

**"****Good lord," John whispered. **

**"****Hello, boys," the cabbie said, now bestowing a full irish accent. He took his large sunglasses off, revealing big, brown, malicious eyes. **

**Moriarty. **


	5. 44

"For being the Holmes brothers, I thought you would have figured this out sooner." Moriarty pulled the car up to an abandoned cottage. "Tea, shall we?"

The four men walked reluctantly into the house, Moriarty corralling them. He then made a kettle of tea. He smirked as he poured it.

"How did you survive?" Sherlock asked immediately.

"Faked it. Put a blood pack in my jacket, the gun triggered it."

"Oh." Sherlock sipped his tea, defeated.

"Where are we?" John asked, putting down his nearly empty teacup.

"Regal Valley. Exactly where you wanted to go," Moriarty said, picking up his cup. "Maybe I should switch professions," he mumbled.

"What are you after now?" Mycroft asked. "Power? Money?"

"Him," Moriarty answered. He looked at Sherrinford. "He'd be incredibly useful. And he's much more useful than either of you, he's an assassin. Someone killed all my snipers…"

"And I'd kill you if my weapons weren't in the car," Sherrinford said.

John pulled out a gun. "What do you want?" he said, sternly.

"Put that away," Moriarty said.

"_What do you want?_" John repeated, not lowering the gun.

"Put that away, or I'll kill all of you. But I don't actually want to kill any of you." The other four stopped, giving Moriarty confused looks.

"I want to play with you. Play more games. I liked the games, didn't you, Sherlock?"

Sherlock remained expressionless.

"Well, I have a brand new game. And it starts… _now_."


	6. 43

**A/N: Okay, so it's been about a half a year, and I'm so sorry. I'm going to try to write more, and after some tumblr-ing, I'm happy to continue writing.**

"All the doors and windows are locked. So there's no backing out. Somewhere in the room, there's a bomb. It's quite miniscule, easily stoppable, but first, you have to find it. You have five minutes."

Sherrinford stood up, instinctively checking his pockets for a weapon. Mycroft rapily searched something on his phone, and Sherlock simply sat in his chair, staring at Moriarty. He mumbled something under his breath.

"What? We couldn't quite hear you." Moriarty leaned forward.

"It doesn't exist," Sherlock repeated.

"Very good, very good. You've passed the first test. And now-" Moriarty turned around. John was behind him now, again pointing his gun at the back of his head.

Moriarty laughed. "You never learn, do you." Moriarty grabbed the gun, now wrestling with John over it.

John pulled the trigger.


End file.
